Participation

The President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, today, Tuesday, March 29, 2011 made two fundamental policy statements that will dramatically change the lives of women and the girl-child in Sierra Leone .

As a number of Southern African countries prepare for local and national elections, the second annual Gender Justice and Local Government Summit held in Benoni, Johannesburg last week has called for an increase in women representation.

The summit also called for an end to gender-based violence.

Traditionally in Yemen, women are literally not allowed to raise their voices. Even calling out in the street to attract someone's attention is considered unacceptable.

But in recent weeks, many women in the country have discovered their voice as they joined in the revolution that has not only swept the country but the region as well.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday hailed a draft Senate resolution backing the rights of women in the Arab world as the region is swept by political upheavals.

“I am a woman, a Socialist, divorced and agnostic,” the new defense minister told the generals of her Roman Catholic country. “But we will work together very well.”

Women lawmakers have expressed dissatisfaction over their limited role in the Constituent Assembly.

Speaking at a programme on ‘Women's role in the Constitution Assembly', Chitra Lekha Yadav, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and treasurer of the Nepali Congress, said though the country needs women's participation, they were neglected in policy making roles.

Civil society in general and women in particular have a critical role to play in cementing Sierra Leone's transition from conflict to peace and development, a senior United Nations official said today.

Women urge ECOWAS leaders to stop crisis in Cote d'lvoire

The UN peacekeeping mission to Cote d'Ivoire have indicated that Laurent Gbagbo's forces were readying an attack helicopter and multiple rocket launchers on Tuesday.

The Mission condemned the growing use of heavy weapons against civilians.

The demonstrations held here on March 20 marked the third time in four weeks that protesters gathered to demand an end to the "confessional" or sectarian system that divides Lebanon's government and society along religious lines.

But this time the focus of protesters' anger broadened to include the country's system of family laws that are governed by religious authorities and often discriminate against women.

The first time Mumal Barupal went to a meeting of her village council, she sat on the floor, off to the side of the benches occupied by the other members, in purdah – her face completely veiled by the end of her sari.

Then she ran the meeting: She was the newly elected mayor.